1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope and an endoscope apparatus, and more particularly, to an endoscope and endoscope apparatus used for polarization imaging.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, techniques for imaging (polarization imaging) using polarization characteristics of light have been proposed in various fields including the industrial and medical fields.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,938 proposes an endoscope which includes a component (polarizer) adapted to cause illuminating light emitted to an object and light from the illuminating light reflected off the object to differ from each other in polarization characteristics.
Also, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-282965 proposes an endoscopic imaging apparatus which identifies a specific site in a living body using unique spectral absorption characteristics of near-infrared light at 1200 nm or longer, including a polarizer provided in each of an illumination optical system and an image pickup optical system, wherein a polarization direction of light entering the polarizer in the image pickup optical system after being reflected by the living body is set to be orthogonal to a polarization direction of the polarizer in the image pickup optical system.